Brinkley-Paschall Photo Report

Photo: Cathcart Fielding

By Robert Perea at ringside

Almost as soon as the verdict was announced, many at ringside began speculating on whether Jesse Brinkley’s performance in a 10-round unanimous decision over Mike Paschall was enough to earn him the big money bout he’s been seeking. Brinkley himself had far more pressing issues on his mind. “I want to go catch an 8-pound bass out of a bass pond,” he said. Brinkley (34-5-0, 22 KOs), of Yerington, NV overcame conditioning issues, a cut between his eyes from an accidental head butt and a game effort by Paschall, of Baltimore, MD for his eighth consecutive win before a crowd of 2,226 at the Reno Events Center in Reno, NV. Judges Burt Clements and Herb Santos each scored the bout 97-93, while C.J. Ross had it 96-94. Fightnews.com had it 97-93 for Brinkley.

Photos: Cathcart Fielding

Photo: Cathcart Fielding

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“I’m not going to say this was a bad outing because we got the win, but I know I can do a lot better than this,” Brinkley said. “I know if I was in better condition this would probably have been a five-round fight.”

Brinkley weighed in for the bout right at the 175-pound weight limit, the heaviest he’d ever been for a bout and two pounds heavier than Paschall. Brinkley said he weighed as much as 207 pounds before he began training, and he had to lose 32 pounds in four and a half weeks. He still weighed 192 pounds four days before the fight.

“I felt so weak from losing all that weight,” he said. “I did it so wrong, and it’s no one else’s fault but mine for getting that heavy in between fights. I tried to feint him a few times, I tried countering his counter, and I tried sucking him into things, but I was just so slow at 175 that it’s almost embarrassing.”

Brinkley still managed to save his best for last. He dominated the 10th round, by far his best round of the night, even though it was also the most aggressive round by Paschall.

“In round 9 and 10 my coach said ‘Listen son, you got to get on this guy,’” Brinkley said. “If this had been a 12-round fight he wouldn’t have made it through the 11th and 12th. He was ready to go.”

Paschall had never gone past eight rounds, and only three times had he gone longer than six.

“I was so excited, like man, I’m in the 10th round with this guy,” Paschall said. “I kept trying to wait for a big punch. I wanted to just close the show, and he would throw a bunch of little flurries and catch me.”

Brinkley took the fight to Paschall in the first two rounds, but Paschall was only happy to oblige. Paschall caught Brinkley with an accidental head butt about a minute into the third round, opening a cut on the inside edge of Brinkley’s left eyebrow. His cornermen were able to stop the bleeding between rounds, and it never again became an issue.

“Right when it happened it felt a lot worse than it really was,” Brinkley said.

Paschall did his best work in the middle rounds, clearly getting the best of things in the fifth and sixth.

Brinkley regained control in the seventh, consistently winning exchanges two-to-one or three-to-two, and often tagged Paschall with single shots while Paschall missed wildly.

“There was times I stood and banged with him, there was times I tried to box him. There was times that I seen that I could press him when I took his confidence a little bit, but he’s a veteran,” Paschall said. “He knows when to take breaks, but I didn’t capitalize on that because I took a break when he took a break.”

Brinkley, who hadn’t fought against a lefthander in about six years, said he had a hard time figuring how to attack Paschall’s southpaw style.

“I had problems the whole way through, so when I got in there if felt like I was still trying to learn new things with him,” Brinkley said. “He wasn’t as fast as I thought he’d be and he was a lot harder to hit than I thought he’d be.”

The loss was just the second of his career for Paschall (19-2-1, 4 KOs), and he said he wants to get back in action quickly.

“My trainer, he’s my biggest critic, and he said now we’ve been 10 rounds, now we know what happens,” Paschall said.

Brinkley hopes having another win under his belt pushes him closer to the title shot he hopes to get, maybe as soon as this fall. He said he plans to start training again almost immediately after giving his cut a week to heal.

“I’ll fight King Kong for King Kong money,” he said. “I’m going to be in camp longer than four weeks though, so no matter who we fight or what we do, I guarantee the next time will be a lot better outing.”

Hinkey brothers split

Brothers Tyler and Derek Hinkey, both members of the Paiute-Shoshone tribe of McDermitt, NV, found themselves on the opposite end of a pair of unpopular decisions.

Andrae Carthron (3-2-2) of Los Angeles won a 6-round majority decision over Tyler Hinkey in a heavyweight bout.

The crowd booed the decision, while Hinkey appeared to be too stunned to react.

“I actually thought I won the fight,” Hinkey said. “I decided to bang him and it made it an interesting fight for the people here.”

Carthron said he was able to outlast Hinkey by wearing him down in the last two rounds.

“I was able to capitalize on him running out of gas in the late and middle rounds,” he said.

Judge C.J. Ross scored the bout a draw at 57-57, while Eric Cheek and Burt Clements each had 58-56 in favor of Carthron. Fightnews.com had it 58-56 for Hinkey.

Derek Hinkey, meanwhile, had the good fortune his brother lacked. Derek Hinkey (8-1-0, 7 KOs) took a 6-round unanimous decision over Loren Myers (7-6-0, 2 KOs) of Fresno, CA in a middleweight bout.

Hinkey won the bout 58-56 on two of the judges’ scorecards, and 59-56 on the other. Fightnews.com had it 59-56 for Myers.

The decision was greeted with a loud chorus of boos, but Hinkey said it was the correct one.

“I hoped I dismissed the critics saying I’m just a heavy hitter and I can box now,” he said. “I don’t think he clearly hit me with anything clean and hard. I think the only real shots he got was when I think my machismo still does get involved and my bravado does get there and I sit on the ropes.”

Russian invasion

It took barely over a minute combined for brothers Fedor and Dmitry Chudinov of Moscow, Russia to win their respective professional debuts.

On the first punch he threw as a professional, super middleweight Fedor Chudinov landed a straight right to the jaw of Shawn Kirk (4-5-0, 2 KOs) of Lexington, KY, sending Kirk to the canvas. Referee Robert Byrd counted Kirk out at 33 seconds of the first round.

Dmitry Chudinov needed three punches to send Otis Chennault (1-2-0), of Atlanta, GA, to the canvas about 20 seconds into the first round of their middleweight bout. Chennault quickly got to his feet, but Chudinov almost immediately floored him again, prompting Byrd to stop the fight at 40 seconds of the first round.

In the semi main event, Rustam Nugaev of Perm, Russia joined his countrymen as victors with a 6th round TKO of Orlando Membreno of Managua, Nicaragua in a lightweight bout.

Nugaev never knocked Membreno to the canvas, but he battered him enough in the sixth round to prompt Membreno’s corner to waive the white towel.

“We expected that we would finish him in the sixth round,” Nugaev said, speaking through an interpreter. “He was taking too many punches. We expected a Mexican style fight, a tough guy who can take punches.”

Judges Eric Cheek and Herb Santos scored the bout 59-55 and Burt Clements had it 58-56 for Santa Cruz.

*Matt Remillard, 129, of Hartford, CT made quick work of Tyler Ziolowski, 135, of St. Joseph, MO with a knockout at 1:30 of the first round. Remillard landed a vicious left hook to Ziolowski’s ribs, and Ziolowski immediately crumpled to the mat. Remillard stayed undefeated at 17-0-0 with 10 KOs, while Ziolowski slipped to 11-8-0 with 6 KOs.

Robert Perea is a freelance writer based in Reno, Nevada. He worked for 15 years for the Reno Gazette-Journal and its sister publications.